Back To Basics Toyota 86: STX & 86 Cup Street Build

[Lincoln Logs]

The build has finally started! I already loaded a Stage 1 tune before the last autocross but I wanted to post a few thoughts about it. I've seen some dyno results for the Stage 1 3.02 tunes already and it is not that impressive on paper. However, in the real world, I think there are a number of positive changes. My top three things improvements I've noticed are throttle response, better behavior at redline and eliminating RPM hang during shifts.

The throttle response improvement is subjective but I feel the mapping is a little more natural and less lazy without being overly sensitive. At redline the car now longer pauses or stops, it just holds the car at redline until you decide to shift. This is great for autocross and big track too. Another small fix I noticed is the throttle not longer hangs between shifts - not game changing but I appreciate it! I'm looking forward to getting a baseline and swapping the header soon.



Next item for the build is a different exhaust. Now, you might be wondering why I'd swap out the perfectly functional TRD exhaust. It's a great system and sounds great on an otherwise stock car. With the incoming addition of the header I was worried it might be too loud which is problematic for our autocross location.

After being around the helmholtz exhausts we design at the shop, I wanted to try something similar with this car. If you use a properly designed helmholtz chamber you get all the fun noise without any of the drone. It is a win/win! Thermal R&D already did all the hard work and have a catback system available with a helmholtz chamber so I picked one up.



After getting the car on the lift and we got the exhaust swapped in short order. On the road, I was shocked how mellow the exhaust is. There is a lot less cabin noise and some people might consider it too quiet. This is definitely the mature exhaust choice if you want to stay under the radar. For me it is perfect. My wife reminded me I must be getting old because all my cars are almost as quiet as stock. I'm very curious to see how this exhaust system sounds with the header installed...I'm hoping I won't need to make any other changes.

Sticking with my plan I also documented the fun via film, hope you enjoy!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bla-fLdCLuE&t"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bla-fLdCLuE&t[/ame]

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Originally Posted by EdBoy

Awesome stuff, I'll be trying to get into autocross this year so ill probably see you around sd

there's an event sunday? is there a link to the event?

The next event is on Feb 17th & 18th, I'm planning on having the car mostly together for STX by then.

[EdBoy]

thanks for the info. Are you in north county? I swear I must've seen you in passing.
Anyways I know you only had the trd exhaust to compare to the thermal R&D, I was hoping you knew how different it would've been for stock.

[Lincoln Logs]

Just picked up my first set of wheels to continue prepping the car for STX. I wanted some POP so I ended up choosing the Red Opal Konig Hypergrams in 17x9, +40mm offset.



Red Opal is a pretty dynamic color. It is more of a darker ruby red when it is not in direct light. Light weight too!



When I had the car on the lift for the exhaust I also took a few minutes to check clearance for the Sprint BBK on the TRD wheels. Plenty of room for the BBK! Just because I was curious, I wanted to weigh the TRD wheels too. Assuming the stock tire weighs about 20 lbs these are pretty light!



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Originally Posted by EdBoy

thanks for the info. Are you in north county? I swear I must've seen you in passing.
Anyways I know you only had the trd exhaust to compare to the thermal R&D, I was hoping you knew how different it would've been for stock.

I live fairly close to downtown San Diego but I was in North County the last two weekends for various stuff. I do have a stock 13-16 exhaust I picked up for testing, wouldn't be too much work to swap it on.

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Good read. Will be interested to see your mod list for this car.

I would recommend print this out and test to see if it fits or not.

Thanks for sharing that, I confirmed the Sprint BBK fits the TRD 15 spoke wheel. I'm glad it does, I love them for my street wheels.

[Pat]

Normally I'm not a fan of red wheels. But for a track-specific application I love your choice. Looking forward to seeing more of your progress.

[Lincoln Logs]

Originally Posted by Pat

Normally I'm not a fan of red wheels. But for a track-specific application I love your choice. Looking forward to seeing more of your progress.

Thanks! I like bright wheels on track, makes it more fun. I'll keep the grey TRD wheels to hide brake dust on the commute. :-)

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Quick Project Update! I have two appointments set with my local dyno, one for this Friday to get a baseline for the 2017 and another for the following week to dyno after the header installation. If the stars align I might be able to do an AB test with E85 too.

[Lincoln Logs]

While getting the 86 ready for it's dyno appointment I thought it might be educational to talk about how to prep a car for a trip to the dyno. Also, I must admit, I got a little ahead of myself and filled the tank with E85 and loaded the Stage 2+ tune the day before I found out I was going to the dyno Friday.

So while the baseline runs won't be done on pump gas, I will be comparing the Stage 2+ E85 v3.02 tune to the NEW v4 tune from OpenFlash. After the baseline tomorrow, I have lift time scheduled at work to install the OFT header and I'll be back on the dyno next Friday to see the gains.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8b-RgGOmc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8b-RgGOmc[/ame]

[Racecomp Engineering]

I've never seen those TRD wheels...pretty nice. Are they 17x7.5?

- Andrew

[spicyricecake]

I ended up buying a legit magnet number after seeing this. Love it!

[Lincoln Logs]

Dyno results are in and I'm VERY please for a nearly stock car. I am, however, going to wait until next week to reveal final results. That gives me enough time to swap the header and re-dyno the car to have more complete story to share.

For now, I'll post the graph without numbers and let the guessing begin. Information to help: Stage 2+ v4 E85 tune, Thermal R&D 2.5" catback and E85 from a Propel Fuel station.



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Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

I've never seen those TRD wheels...pretty nice. Are they 17x7.5?

- Andrew

I had never seen them either until I found this car. Yes, they are 17x7.5 and fairly light too (~17.5lbs). I'm keeping these for daily driving duties, it is fun sliding around on the Primacys.

Originally Posted by spicyricecake

I ended up buying a legit magnet number after seeing this. Love it!

Make sure to clean the paint with a quick detailer or similar product before applying the magnets. They will scratch up the paint really fast if you do not.

[Lynxis]

Originally Posted by Lincoln Logs

Red Opal is a pretty dynamic color. It is more of a darker ruby red when it is not in direct light. Light weight too!

These look amazing, can't wait to see how they look on your car! I really want a set of these in exactly this colour for dedicated track wheels (red against the WRB will really stand out I think) but it will have to wait, it's pretty hard to justify when I've already got 4 sets of wheels and tires lol. But after I finish off my RS3s, I might sell 2 sets to finance a set of these.

[Lincoln Logs]

Originally Posted by Lynxis

These look amazing, can't wait to see how they look on your car! I really want a set of these in exactly this colour for dedicated track wheels (red against the WRB will really stand out I think) but it will have to wait, it's pretty hard to justify when I've already got 4 sets of wheels and tires lol. But after I finish off my RS3s, I might sell 2 sets to finance a set of these.

I can't wait to see them either. Not going to lie, I've had thoughts about wrapping this car in a WRB-ish color. I know that feeling on extra wheels! I've been selling Miata wheels, too much to keep around.

[Lincoln Logs]

Before going crazy with modifications...I was curious. Could I hit the magic 200WHP with a stock car using E85? I've seen results here and there but that was not enough for me. I wanted to see that number before we went down the rabbit hole. I did my best to film my time at the dyno and break down the results from A/B testing.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o2Dkdsd_2Y"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o2Dkdsd_2Y[/ame]

In short, YES, I was able to hit 205WHP and 160WTQ with a v4 Stage 2+ E85 tune on an otherwise stock 2017 Toyota 86. The only modification was a 2.5" Thermal R&D catback exhaust but given the data I've seen I doubt that added much if any power. The dyno I used was a DynoDynamics which I have run a lot of cars on over the years and have found it is generally inline with most Dynojets in the area.



All in all I am very impressed and I do not think I have never experienced such a good bang-for-buck modification on a naturally aspirated car. The 86 really comes alive with an extra ~30WHP and it is so much more fun than stock. Next up is an OpenFlash Performance header with integrated over-pipe. How much will it make? Only time will tell but I do not expect nearly as big of a jump. For those that are curious here is a chart comparing the v3.02 Stage 2+ E85 tune vs the v4.0. I also plan on running the car with 91 and the header to get another data point in the future.

[PuslarBrrrz]

I've seen similar results a handful of times now which had influenced myself to try the stock header while on E85 after running a UEL catless unit a few weeks ago. The UEL header will make more midrange where the dip is and it will have a smoother power delivery. However bang for the buck, on top of a quieter car the OEM header and E85 is hard to beat.

[Lincoln Logs]

Originally Posted by PuslarBrrrz

I've seen similar results a handful of times now which had influenced myself to try the stock header while on E85 after running a UEL catless unit a few weeks ago. The UEL header will make more midrange where the dip is and it will have a smoother power delivery. However bang for the buck, on top of a quieter car the OEM header and E85 is hard to beat.

Yup it is pretty sweet we have access to such an easy modification. Having been around the new MX-5s in the shop, they do not have it as easy when it comes to extra power. I too am worried about noise but I have a few plans to address that if the Thermal R&D exhaust is too loud with the header.

I've received some comments already that this is a touch unbelievable. I have one day left to decide whether to re-dyno the car this Friday on pump gas or continue forward with my header install. Downsides are my next dyno day will be a while off and I won't have header numbers.